Chapter 284
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 284
Chapter Title: Lesson 55. Heart of the Tower - 4
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The massive serpent transformed into a colossal bird, then a barrier, and back into waves, relentlessly chasing or blocking the group's path.
However, no one could hope to catch Lilith, the self-proclaimed fastest ship in the universe, as she raced at full throttle.
The problem was its scale.
"Kyaaah! Chunks of the ground are falling away and turning black!"
"Light, since when do you scream like a damsel with 'kyaaah'? I saw you subtly grabbing the Master's coattails, too."
"N-no, I didn't? I didn't grab anything!"
"Hey, this isn't the time to bicker over something trivial. Keep your eyes forward."
Ban Yu-won's prediction that the entire world would turn against them proved spot on.
It was hard to imagine how the NPCs had survived in hiding all this time—the Observer of All's authority, or rather curse, extended everywhere. Solid ground would blink into part of the black waves in an instant, rising like a tsunami, making it impossible to lower the ship's altitude.
The world was turning black.
Whether drawn by Ban Yu-won's presence or not, the star mark—a crystallization of the constellation's power—manifested in real time, spawning even more massive wave tendrils that pursued him relentlessly from behind.
"This is insane. How did they manage to hold out here without getting wiped out until now?"
When a tsunami reached kilometers in height, what else could you call it?
Ban Yu-won decided to name the monstrosity visible beyond the ship's monitors a "disaster."
Fusing with everything in its path and growing ever larger under the constellation's influence, the tsunami seemed to have gained a semblance of ego. Like tar, it gaped open a sticky maw, spewing machine-gun barrages of magic bullets laden with mass and curse.
[It's gonna get a bit hectic!]
But Lilith, the prodigy pilot, acted as if they were playing a shooting game. She ramped up the speed, weaving leisurely through the onslaught while blasting psychedelic lights inside the ship to amp up the vibe.
"They must've been on the verge of annihilation. Yu-won said it at the start—this place is a goldmine."
"Yeah, exactly."
A being like the Observer of All wouldn't let a world under its direct power go to waste.
Of course, in reality, all this was from the past, events from another dimension outside the Tower...
'So, did the Observer of All from the past get what it wanted in this dimension? Or does the fact that it's being recreated here mean the Tower intervened before it could claim its prize?'
Or perhaps the Observer had been in league with the Tower from the beginning.
Either way, what mattered was now, this room.
Ban Yu-won's intuition—no, his authority—screamed that there was definitely something to gain here beyond mere collapse or fusion.
That said, the room's scale was staggeringly vast, as he'd repeated ad nauseam.
Scanning with Tike would have been ideal, but since the thing had noticed Tike and gone berserk, leaving him exposed outside wasn't wise.
"Tch. Guess I need to rack my brain again."
Even he had to admit the Light Sealing Sword—or rather, the Requiem Minor Copy Two—he'd unleashed against the black waves earlier was pretty damn good.
Combining his fully mastered Word of Power, courtesy of Grandfather, with his potential to create and wield even rare concepts temporarily, he had a shot against foes of any scale.
...But seriously, was this really Room 201?
"Tch."
As Ban Yu-won mentally sorted through the concepts he could create and wield, pulling out a talisman to replenish his depleted vital energy, that's when it happened.
Dokgo Yeon, who always projected serene composure to steady the group no matter where or when—though lately she melted into a mushy expression around Ban Yu-won, coming off a bit ditzy—suddenly had her face drastically change. She was the most reliable among them, hands down.
"Hold on, this feeling..."
"Hm? Another descent besides the tsunami?"
"No, not a constellation's aura."
Dokgo Yeon trailed off.
Her expression flickered with complexity for a moment before she stared intently at empty space. Finally, she let out a sigh and placed her hand on the dashboard.
"I think I know how this dimension met its end. Rusty, head where I direct."
[Rusty?!]
Undeterred by Lilith's headbanging tantrum with the whole ship, Dokgo Yeon calmly issued directions.
Ban Yu-won's retainers couldn't defy her either, so they obediently veered toward her indicated path.
And then...
[Huh?]
"Ah."
Lilith and Ban Yu-won, resonating with her, naturally sensed its presence.
About ten minutes after accelerating, amid the tense chase with black waves surging from all sides...
"There's a barrier. But this isn't magical..."
[If I had to say, it's akin to the curse filling this world?]
"It's sorcery."
Dokgo Yeon cut in decisively.
A unique internal energy—not death aura, but something Ban Yu-won had never seen before—flowed from her, enveloping the entire ship. It allowed them to pass through the barrier without collision.
The tsunami pursued but slammed against the barrier, unable to breach it.
―――――――――!
"Whoa—."
Ignoring the unintelligible screech, they turned their gaze ahead.
Beyond lay a complete otherworld.
Mountain ranges and rivers preserved as if millennia ago, untouched by ruin.
A potent vitality and an eerily pure energy emanated from it.
Lilith hurriedly slowed down, letting the group take in the pocket world inside the barrier at a leisurely pace.
Ban Yu-won shuddered, sensing a familiar vibe akin to the ruins on Planet Galheard somewhere in this space.
"The Divine Cult tends to solve everything with raw power, so we don't delve deeply into sorcery."
It was as if aimed at Asha, who had once casually remarked that higher dimensions probably had barriers against intruders as a matter of course.
"But we've long researched ways to counter sorcerers for ease of handling them. The internal energy I just used is solely for dismantling sorcery."
"No wonder it broke so easily."
"It's the power of the Manifestation Technique. You could learn it in no time."
After briefly humoring his admiration, Dokgo Yeon got to the point.
"Sorcery: twisting nature's laws using characters or objects imbued with human will. Much like your abilities. I even planned to raid a sorcery sect during break..." She trailed off with a hum.
A fond smile crossed her face thinking of a gift for Ban Yu-won, but she caught herself, cleared her throat, and schooled her expression.
Ban Yu-won decided to shelve the cute yet terrifying story for now.
"It's a sorcery barrier. One that... shares roots with my home dimension, it seems."
"Then."
"Of course, this isn't my home dimension. It's just that the sorcery here..."
She finished matter-of-factly: it must have been stolen from her home dimension.
Honestly, it wasn't all that surprising.
The demon king of Dimension A-4 who coveted Murim's martial arts.
Figures like Ryu Cheol-myeong from other dimensions, strutting despite mastering only low-tier arts.
Dokgo Yeon, fiercely protective of her dimension's arts, convinced only they were authentic and complete, yet hiding her origins...
It made sense if her world—Murim—had already leaked martial arts or sorcery in the past, sparking chaos that led to sealing it off belatedly.
"So the Observer of All coveted that too..."
"Likely. I should have realized when we first saw the bird flock. Ancient sorcery from Murim was at the heart of this dimension's past turmoil. No one ever claimed it. The curses those things carry are mere fragments."
Ban Yu-won, listening, became convinced the key to clearing this room lay within this space.
The awkward part? Without Dokgo Yeon, even he might have struggled for ages to find it—a room demanding such a tricky solution, conveniently prepared right when Rebellion entered the Tower.
Wasn't this too convenient for them?
Or rather—for the Tower?
—My child is so clever, after all!
A voice answered his unspoken doubt.
Startled, he whipped around—the instant—
Boom—!
A cabin door inside the ship exploded, dozens of black tentacles writhing out.
The tentacle mass licked its tendrils as if to devour one of them, but Lilith swiftly formed a barrier from the debris, blocking it.
As a retainer of Ban Yu-won wielding the true Requiem's power—not a replica—the tentacles couldn't easily shatter it.
—That's right. The Tower used you all to achieve its desire. Even I've never entered here. The thrill of conquering the unknown! My kind child led me straight to it.
Ban Yu-won sighed at the sight of the NPCs, who had been safely in their cabin, merging into a massive black slime.
Asha, realizing they'd vanished without a trace, roared in fury.
"You—!"
"Calm down, Asha. Looks like they never had a chance from the start."
"From the start?" Asha instantly grasped his meaning and scowled.
The True Dragon Sword in her hand—now transformed into a sharp spear—blended her emotions and magic into destructive aura.
"You mean from the moment we entered the room?"
"We said it ourselves—amazing they'd lasted this long. Truth is... they'd been done for ages ago."
Even Ban Yu-won's authority to read bodily concepts hadn't detected the NPCs swallowed by the curse.
But he'd suspected as much, seeing intact land, buildings, mountains, and rivers turn into cursed waves. So he'd had Lilith monitor and isolate them.
"I thought their following us here meant something, but they were already gone..."
"Yeah. Except for this sorcery-protected space..."
Dokgo Yeon replied coolly to Asha's dazed mutter, boldly slashing with her shortsword.
Not numerous to begin with, the curse masses from the NPCs' bodies cleanly vanished under her strike.
Of course, that didn't end it all.
Now aware of the barrier and the space beyond, the Observer would shatter it and pursue soon enough.
Asha bit her lip, murmuring.
"Should've killed the NPCs right away when we first saw them?"
"Maybe the Tower or constellation intended to torment us and sour our mood like this."
Ban Yu-won gazed ahead, ignoring the monster that had vanished without trace, speaking calmly.
"Truth is, the constellation could've pinpointed this barrier the moment we found it. No need to worry."
"Exactly. It left them in human form just to observe us up close and unsettle us."
Ban Yu-won had wondered at their reunion if it tied into piercing the Tower's theme—but nope.
The Tower, the constellations—they just loved toying with climbers.
Maybe it exploited Asha's empathy for the NPCs.
"The barrier will fall soon. Let's grab everything we can before then."
Lucelle remained optimistic.
She pointed to a majestic temple revealed between a massive mountain's canyons.
Ban Yu-won nodded.
"A goldmine's a goldmine, after all."
Alright then.
Time to see what treasure lay in ruins coveted by a constellation like the Observer of All—and even the Tower itself.